Fun Activities to Keep Kids Busy When You Are Stuck Indoors

If it’s March Break for your children, they may be super excited to spend some time out of school. The best way to burn off that excitement is to play outside where they can enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. If you are like us, you may live in a climate where spending large amounts of time outside during the March Break is just not feasible due to cold weather and frostbite advisories. Spring may feel like it’s right around the corner, but Mother Nature doesn’t always agree! So, we got a few fun activities to keep your kids busy when you are stuck indoors this winter. The best part is that your children will be learning through play while you sit back with your coffee and enjoy watching them have fun!

What children learn through sensory play

Beyond allowing children the opportunity to have fun and make a mess, sensory activities have many added learning benefits. They help children develop their creative side by providing them with open-ended activities so that they can create their own masterpieces. While touching, manipulating and smelling the activities, they are developing their senses and while mixing, pouring and dumping they are learning about math, developing their fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination. Sensory activities are a great way to develop a child’s social emotional development as it gives them ample opportunities to learn about cooperation and working as a team.

How to Make Goop:

Cornstarch (approximately 1 ½ cups)

Water (approximately ¼ cup)

Food colouring or paint (optional)

A sensory bin or small container (We use clear, under bed storage containers because they are wide and not too deep for kids to reach)

Measuring cups, spoons, funnels, spoons, etc.

Pour the Cornstarch into your bin, mix in the water and stir it up with a spoon or have your children mix it with their fingers. For added fun, you can add a few drops of paint and let them have fun mixing, pouring and manipulating it with the tools that they are using!

Tip: To modify this for older children, you can get them to make their own goop by giving them the ingredients required. You can allow them the space to experiment to find out what happens when they add more water or more cornstarch. You can also give them the paint and allow them to mix colours.

* Goop can be a little intimidating for adults, as it looks very messy. However, it has properties that allow it to be both solid and liquid which makes it quite easy to sweep up when it dries.

How to make Tapioca Pearls Sensory Beads

Large tapioca pearls

Water

A strainer

Food colouring (optional)

A pot

A sensory bin

Toy sea creatures, measuring cups, funnels, ladles etc…

Cook the Tapioca Pearls according to the instructions on the package. Drain them and add some food colouring if desired. Add the tapioca pearls into your sensory bin with some water or by themselves if preferred. You can add some different colours and a few drops of peppermint or vanilla extract to make it more stimulating for their senses.

*Tapioca Pearls are what is used for Bubble Tea and can be found at most Asian Supermarkets.

Create a Coloured Rice Hide and Seek

Step 1:To colour the rice, fill a re-sealable, clear bag with rice and add a few drops of food colouring with a teaspoon of vinegar. Shake and squish the bag to mix the food colouring into the rice. Once it has been mixed, lay the rice to dry on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat these steps to make different colours of rice.

Step 2: Once the rice has dried, add it all to your container. Find items around your house that you can hide in the rice for your children to find. Let them explore the rice while searching for the hidden objects. For added fun, you can write out a list of the hidden objects for them to search for.

Tip: To make this age appropriate for younger non-readers you can take a picture of the objects that they are to search for.

Make your Own Ice and Snow

Containers of any size

Water

A sensory bin

Objects from around your home

Snow (optional)

Food colouring (optional)

Thin gloves or mitts

Towels or tablecloth for under the bin

Spoons, paintbrushes, warm water, little shovels, pails etc…

Fill your containers with water (coloured water is optional.) Place some small objects inside the container and place it in the freezer or outside if the temperature is cold enough.

Once they are frozen, put the ice blocks inside of your sensory bin and let the children chip away at them with their spoons or whichever tools they have. You can fill a cup with warm water and let them paint the ice with warm water or pour the water over the ice to allow them to observe what happens. For added fun, put some snow into the sensory bin and let them have fun with snow inside!

Ask your children some questions to enrich their learning experience while doing these activities:

What does it smell like?
What does it feel like?
What happens when you squish it in between your fingers?
Is it cold, hot, warm?
What shapes and colours can you see?

Writing down their answers will be a fun memory to look back on as they get older and don’t forget to take some photos too!